NATURE AND CONCEPT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP If you can dream it, you can do it. -- Walt Disney

CHAPTER 1 NATURE AND CONCEPT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP If you can dream it, you can do it. -- Walt Disney 1.1 EVOLUTION OF CONCEPT OF ENTREPRENEUR The word entrepreneur is derived from French word Entreprendre which was used to designate an organizer of musical or other entertainments. Later in 16th century it was used for army leaders. It was extended to cover civil engineering activities such as construction in 17th century. But it was Richard Cantillon, an Irishman living in France who first used the term entrepreneur to refer to economic activities. According to Cantillon An entrepreneur is a person who buys factor services at certain prices with a view to selling its product at uncertain prices. Entrepreneur, according to Cantillon, an entrepreneur is a bearer of risk, which is non-insurable. Schum Peter gave a central position to the entrepreneur who believed that an entrepreneur was a dynamic agent of change; that an entrepreneur was a catalyst who transformed increasingly physical, natural and human resources into correspondingly production possibilities. Since then the term entrepreneur is used in various ways and various views. 1.2 CONCEPT OF ENTREPRENEUR As said above entrepreneur is used in various ways and various views. These views are broadly classified into three groups, namely risk bearer, organizer and innovator. Entrepreneur as risk bearer: Richard Cantilon defined entrepreneur as an agent who buys factors as production at certain prices in order to combine them into a product with a view to selling it at uncertain prices in future. He illustrated a former who pays contractual incomes, which are certain to land owners and laborers, and sells at prices that are uncertain. He includes merchants also who make certain payments in expectation of uncertain receipts. Hence both of them are risk-bearing agents of production. P.H. Knight described entrepreneur to be a specialized group of persons who bear uncertainty. Uncertainty is defined as risk, which cannot be insured against and is incalculable. He made distinction between certainty and risk. A risk can be reduced through the insurance principle, where the distribution of outcome in a group of instance is known, whereas uncertainty cannot be calculated. Entrepreneur as an organizer: According to J Baptist Say an entrepreneur is one who combines the land of one, the labor of another and capital of yet another, and thus produces a product. By selling the product in the market, he pays interest on capital, rent on land and wages to laborers and what remains is his/her profit. Say made distinction between the role of capitalist as a financer and the entrepreneur as an organizer. This concept of

entrepreneur is associated with the functions of coordination, organisation and supervision. Entrepreneur as an innovator: Joseph A Schum Peter in 1934 assigned a crucial role of innovation to the entrepreneur. He considered economic development as a dynamic change brought by entrepreneur by instituting new combinations of factors of production, i.e. innovations. The introduction of new combination according to him, may occur in any of the following forms. (a) Introduction of new product in the market. (b) Use of new method of production, which is not yet tested. (c) Opening of new market. (d) Discovery of new source of raw materials. (e) Bringing out of new form of organisation. Schum Peter also made distinction between inventor and innovator. An inventor is one who discovers new methods and new materials. An innovator utilizes inventions and discovers in order to make new combinations. Hence the concept of entrepreneur is associated with three elements risk bearing, organizing and innovating. Hence an entrepreneur can be defined as a person who tries to create something new, organizes production and undertakes risks and handles economic uncertainty involved in enterprise. 1.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEUR Entrepreneur is a person of telescopic faculty drive and talent who perceives business opportunities and promptly seizes them for exploitation. Entrepreneur needs to possess competencies to perform entrepreneur activities. The various characteristics of a successful entrepreneur are mentioned below: 1. Discipline and Organization Keep track of the time and duties to accomplish as much as possible. Divide time up wisely, investing the energy where it benefits the business most. Successful entrepreneurs use discipline and organization to squeeze the most out of the hours they have. 2. Great Reputation All successful entrepreneurs are known for the things they excel in. Build the great reputation by delivering on time and keeping promises. Show consistency by building from one job to the next and the word of mouth will grow with each successful project, along with the business.

3. Passion Entrepreneur does not have to adore every aspect of the business to be a successful entrepreneur. He does need deep passion for making the business a success, because this passion will take him through difficult tasks on the way to the part of the business that ignites spirit and heart. 4. Balance Einstein came up with this simple equation: "If A is a success in life, then A equals X plus Y plus Z. Work is X, Y is play and Z is keeping the mouth shut." Decide how much time one will spend on work, play, and speaking wisely to achieve Einstein's recommended balance. 5. Technology Savvy All of the most successful entrepreneurs of recent years have used technology to their advantage, from Microsoft's Bill Gates to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Entrepreneur does not have to invent new technology, but using tech trends to save time and increase profit can give the business a strong advantage. 6. Great Negotiation Skills Selling himself short can cripple his starting business. Study the competitors and study the successful entrepreneurs who are where he wants to be. Learn how to request the true value of the products and services and always look for win-win deals. 7. Accessibility Think about the great hairstylist one knows who is only open two days a week. His competitor isn't as good, but he takes appointments every day. Provide the customers with what they want, when they want it, to take the lead over the competitors. 8. Sales Ability Being a great salesperson isn't always about the "hard sell." Know how to develop the customers, present them with the right product or service at the right time, and follow up to build the business. Learn to listen, and hear opportunities to make a sale at the right time in the right way. 9. Positive Attitude The willingness to try and fail and try again is one of the qualities that every successful entrepreneur has in common. The popular book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell showed that "instant geniuses" like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had invested thousands of hours working with computers and had many failures before they found success.

10. Imagination "Imagination is more important than knowledge," Einstein said. The founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, had enough knowledge to work for any technology company in the world. They imagined that there could be a better way to search for information on the Internet instead, and founded one of the world's most successful companies. 1.4 CHARMS OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR The most exciting part of Entrepreneurship is that you are your own master. When you are an employee, you work for others according to their plans, whims and finances. In an Entrepreneurship, it is you who set the goal, plan the action and reap the satisfaction and rewards of having achieved the goal. Why should you become an Entrepreneur? You will be your own boss and boss to other people and make decisions that are crucial to the business success or failure. You will make money for yourself rather than for someone else. You may participate in every aspect of running a business and learn and gain experience in a variety of disciplines. You will have the chance to work directly with your customers. You will have the personal satisfaction of creating and running a successful business. You will be able to work in a field of area that you really enjoy. You will have the chance to build retirement value. Rewards for an Entrepreneur 1. Freedom to work. 2. Satisfaction of being own boss. 3. Power to do things as he likes. 4. Rewards of ownership and retirement assurance. 5. Respect of family and friends. Penalties for an Entrepreneur 1. Constraints of financiers, laborers, customers, suppliers, and debtors curtail his freedom. 2. Frustration due to availability of limited capital and other resources. 3. Social and family life is affected due to hard long hours of working. 4. Frustration due to non-achievement of full objectives. 5. Risk of failure. 1.5 FUNCTIONS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR An Entrepreneur has to perform a number of functions right from the generation of idea up to the establishment of an enterprise. He also has to perform functions for successful

running of his enterprise. Entrepreneur has to perceive business opportunities and mobilize resources like man, money, machines, materials and methods. The following are the main functions of an Entrepreneur. 1. Idea generation: The first and the most important function of an Entrepreneur is idea generation. Idea generation implies product selection and project identification. Idea generation is possible through vision, insight, keen observation, education, experience and exposure. This needs scanning of business environment and market survey. 2. Determination of business objectives: Entrepreneur has to state and lay down the business objectives. Objectives should be spelt out in clear terms. The Entrepreneur must be clear about the nature and type of business, i.e. whether manufacturing concern or service oriented unit or a trading business so that he can very well carry on the venture in accordance with the objectives determined by him. 3. Raising of funds: All the activities of the business depend upon the finance and hence fund raising is an important function of an Entrepreneur. An Entrepreneur can raise the fund from internal source as well as external source. He should be aware of different sources of funds. He should also have complete knowledge of government sponsored schemes such as PMRY, SASY, REAP etc. in which he can get government assistance in the form of seed capital, fixed and working capital for his business. 4. Procurement of machines and materials: Another important function of an Entrepreneur is to procure raw materials and machines. Entrepreneur has to identify cheap and regular sources of raw materials which will help him to reduce the cost of production and face competition boldly. While procuring machineries he should specify the technical details and the capacity. He should consider the warranty, after sales service facilities etc before procuring machineries. 5. Market research: Market research is the systematic collection of data regarding the product which the Entrepreneur wants to manufacture. Entrepreneur has to undertake market research persistently to know the details of the intending product, i.e. the demand for the product, size of the market/customers, the supply of the product, competition, the price of the product etc. 6. Determining form of enterprise: Entrepreneur has to determine form of enterprise depending upon the nature of the product, volume of investment etc. The forms of ownership are sole proprietorship, partnership, Joint Stock Company, co-operative society etc. Determination of ownership right is essential on the part of the entrepreneur to acquire legal title to assets. 7. Recruitment of manpower: To carry out this function an Entrepreneur has to perform the following activities. (a) Estimating man power requirement for short term and long term. (b) Laying down the selection procedure.

(c) Designing scheme of compensation. (d) Laying down the service rules. (e) Designing mechanism for training and development. 8. Implementation of the project: Entrepreneur has to develop schedule and action plan for the implementation of the project. The project must be implemented in a time bound manner. All the activities from the conception stage to the commissioning stage are to be accomplished by him in accordance with the implementation schedule to avoid cost and time overrun. He has to organize various resources and coordinate various activities. This implementation of the project is an important function of the Entrepreneur. All the above functions of the Entrepreneur can precisely be put into three categories of innovation, risk bearing, and organizing and managing functions. 1.6 TYPES OF ENTREPRENEUR Today various types of Entrepreneurs are found engaged in different types of activities, not only in industrial activities but also in agriculture and commercial activities. Today we can recognize Entrepreneur in industry, service and business sectors which are technically called as ISB sectors. Entrepreneurs are classified in a number of ways as discussed below. Clearance Danhof s Classifications Danhof classifies Entrepreneur into four types. 1. Innovative entrepreneur: This category of Entrepreneur is characterized by smell of innovativeness. This type of Entrepreneur, sense the opportunities for introduction of new ideas, new technology, discovering of new markets and creating new organizations. Such Entrepreneur can work only when certain level of development is already achieved and people look forward to change and improve. Such Entrepreneur are very much helpful for their country because they bring about a transformation in life style. 2. Adoptive or imitative entrepreneur: Such entrepreneurs imitate the existing entrepreneur and set their enterprise in the same manner. Instead of innovation, may just adopt the technology and methods innovated by others. Such types of entrepreneur are particularly suitable for under-developed countries for imitating the new combination of production already available in developed countries. 3. Fabian entrepreneurs: Fabian entrepreneurs are characterized by great caution and skepticism, in experimenting any change in their enterprises. They imitate only when it becomes perfectly clear that failure to do so would result in a loss of the relative position in the enterprises. 4. Drone entrepreneurs: Such entrepreneurs are conservative or orthodox in outlook. They always feel comfortable with their old fashioned technology of production even though technologies have changed. They never like to get rid of their traditional business,

traditional machineries and traditional system of business even at the cost of reduced returns. Classification Based on the Scale of Enterprise Small scale: These entrepreneurs do not possess the necessary talents and resources to initiate large-scale production and to introduce revolutionary technological changes. Large scale: They possess the necessary financial and other resources to initiate and introduce new technological changes. They possess talent and research and development facilities. 1.7 ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Economic development essentially means a process of upward change whereby the real per capita income of a country increases for a long period of time. The economic history of the presently developed countries, for example, USA and Japan tends to support the facts that the economy is an effect for which the entrepreneurship is the cause. The crucial role played by the entrepreneurs in the western countries has made the people of underdeveloped countries conscious of the significance of entrepreneurship in economic development. After the Independence, India has realized that, for achieving the goal of economic development, it is necessary to increase the entrepreneurship both qualitatively and quantitatively in the country. Parson and Smelter described entrepreneurship as one of the two necessary conditions for economic development, the other being increased output of capital. Y.A. Say high describes entrepreneurship as a necessary dynamic force for economic development. The important role that an entrepreneurship plays in the economic development of an economy can be put in a more systematic manner as follows. 1. Entrepreneurship promotes capital formation by mobilizing the idle saving of the public. 2. It provides immediate large-scale employment. Thus it helps to reduce unemployment in the country. 3. It provides balanced regional development. 4. It helps reduce the concentration of economic power. 5. It stimulates the equitable redistribution of wealth, income and even political power in the interest of the country. 6. It encourages effective resources mobilization of capital and skill which might otherwise remain unutilized and idle. 7. It also induces backward and forward linkages which stimulated the process of economic development in the country. 8. It promotes country s export trade i.e. an important ingredient for economic development. 1.8 STAGES IN THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS Entrepreneurship is a process of comprising several distinct stages.

The first stage in the entrepreneurial process is some change in the real world. For example, a war may destroy country s manufacturing facilities but spare its trained work force that has happened in West Germany during Second World War. Such a change leads to changes in every aspect of life in the country. It creates needs for new goods and services. The distraction of Japan s industry during the Second World War allowed the country to rebuild its industry from scratch. The second stage in the entrepreneurial development is the idea. For example, microprocessor, the brain of personnel computer had been in the American market since the early 1970s. A company called Altair had put out a computer that was so personal that one had to put it together oneself. But it was Apple Computer, which perceived that computer market was potentially very big. One may become an entrepreneur in various ways. He may start a new enterprise. Alternatively he may acquire a franchise. Franchising is an entrepreneurial system whereby an individual runs a business based on the right to make a product or service granted by a manufacturer or other organization. Intra preneuring is another strategy. It is the process of extending the firms domain of competence by exploiting new opportunities through new combinations of its existing resources. 1.9 BARRIERS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP A large number of entrepreneurs particularly in the small enterprises fail due to several problems and barriers. The greatest barrier to entrepreneurship is the failure of success. The following are the entrepreneurship barriers: 1. Lack of a viable concept 2. Lack of market knowledge 3. Lack of technical skills 4. Lack of seed capital 5. Lack of business know how 6. Complacency lack of motivation 7. Social stigma 8. Time presence and distractions 9. Legal constraints and regulations 10. Monopoly and protectionism 11. Inhibitions due to patents